Film editing has long been recognized as a most important discipline and consideration when creating a motion picture film of acceptable quality. Upright and flatbed machines have been developed by prior workers in the art to aid in the editing process and such machines have become available in many forms. Editing machines have been developed for either 35 mm or 16 mm film and designs have been provided to enable the running of multiple films and multiple sound tracks simultaneously for editing purposes. Some of the prior art machines have been adapted to handle multiple film work prints and a single sound track. Other machines can run multiple sound tracks and a single film work print.
A picture display monitor is usually provided together with speakers, controls, marking facilities, cutters, etc. as may be necessary or desirable to aid in the film editing process. Cinema Products Corporation, Los Angeles, Calf., the assignee of the present invention, has developed a line of upright/flatbed (U/F) editing tables for use with both 16 mm and 35 mm film. Hollow polygon, flicker-free optical systems have been incorporated in the Cinema Products Corporation editing tables, and with suitable modifications it is contemplated that such tables could be adapted to make film-to-tape transfers for off-line tape editing in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.
The "Videola" as manufactured by Movieola Corp., is a known type of film-to-tape transfer machine which uses a glass hollow polygon and a TV camera with phase reversal, thereby permitting direct transfer from camera negative to videotape. The "Videola" transfer machine has no code read, write or generating capability. The sound track is on a separate reproducer that is phase locked to the "Videola".
In the film editing process, the synchronization of sound and picture has always been a most important consideration. Since practically the beginning of the motion picture industry, a device known as a clapperboard has universally been employed as an aid in the editing process by synchronizing sound and picture. The clapping of the hinged section provides an exact visual and aural reference point and also provides ready identification by including on the device itself such information as scene and take numbers, camera number, director, title, etc. Such information has been indispensable during the cutting and editing procedures.
More recently, videotape has been widely employed in place of film as a recording and/or release medium for television use. While the quality of the images produced by tape cannot equal the equality inherent in motion picture film, the videotape productions have proved to be satisfactory for television release. The employment of videotape can result in notable economies, both in the production costs and in editing. Highly efficient and economical means of editing and assembling the final product by utilizing the advantages and economies of electronic image reproduction have resulted in wide acceptance and use of videotape in television productions.
Videotape editing technology has now advanced to the point where the editing process can be fully automated by utilizing newly developed electronic editing machines wherein all images can be transferred electronically. There is now no need to cut and splice the tape. Additionally, because of its electronic capability, it is now possible to search for and find any particular section on the videotape in seconds, thereby saving considerable editing time.
In current practice in video production, videotape editing has been made extremely easy and automatic by the addition of a time code track to the video tape. A preselected time code can then be encoded by employing a time code generator of known construction, for example, the time code generator as manufactured by EECO, Gray Engineering, Skotel, etc. These time code generators have all been used, up until now, only for tape production. The code is usually put on during production, but putting code on tape in post production is also common.
The time code that has been universally adopted in the United States at the present time is the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) Standard Time Code, which code is recorded on the videotape together with the images. The SMPTE Standard Time Code has 80 bits per frame and portions of these bits are usually allocated for such information as time, data, production number, camera number, scene, take, frame identifying number, etc. (i.e. "user bits").
Once the original production has been completed, and a master tape has been produced, the master tapes are transferred to 3/4 inch cassettes which can then be taken to an off-line editing facility for editing in known manner. The term `off-line`, as used herein is defined to connote that the editing process is not done in real time. As the editor makes his cuts, this information is then stored in memory in known manner and when the final edited version is developed, the time code address for the frame upon which a particular cut is to be made is printed out on an `edit decision list` as well as being available either on punched paper tape or floppy disk memory.
The post production editing of videotape utilizing the editing facilities which have been developed for this purpose has proved to be a most efficient and economical method of editing and assembling a final release print. The present videotape editing procedures present considerable economies over the presently available methods of post production film editing. It is noteworthy that the 3/4 inch tape utilized in video editing is not of broadcast quality, but is used merely as a work print. The currently available videotape editing systems comprise playback and recording machines, preview and master monitors and keyboard control consoles which are designed to enable an editor to rapidly try and retry as often as desired all editing techniques such as cuts, lap dissolves, fades, wipes, etc. Inasmuch as all of the images are transferred electronically, there is no need to physically cut the tape, thereby offering a distinct advantage over film.
Once the editor has completed the editing process on the inexpensive 3/4 inch tape editing system, the floppy disk and the master tapes, which are usually on one inch tape, can then be brought to a more expensive `on-line` editing system. By loading up the master tapes and by inserting the floppy disk, the editor can then automatically assemble a final broadcast quality version of the show because the same time code that appeared on the 3/4 inch editing tapes will also appear on the master tapes. In this manner, the edit decisions emanating from the floppy disk can be utilized to validly interact with the master tape, all without requiring any cutting of the tape.
In seeking to utilize the same efficiencies and economies available in editing videotape, film makers have for some time attempted to utilize a time code similar to the SMPTE code on the film to thereby permit the same post production techniques which are utilized in the video post production to be applied to the film post production procedures. Most prior art efforts to impress a suitable time code on film have been directed to writing the code on the film in the camera by employing optical means. Usually, an LED or an LED array would be installed in the film aperture and an external time code generator was employed to drive the LED to write an optical code on the camera negative as the film was carried past the lens (as done by Arriflex in Germany and Eclair and Aaton in France). Such optical time codes were advantageous in that they were permanent and non-erasable. Additionally, such an optical track could be easily transferred to the print during the printing process.
However, the employment of a time code with film has always presented numerous problems. Inasmuch as frame accuracy is of critical importance in editing, the only way that this could be assured was to position the code writing mechanism directly at the film aperture. It must be noted that the film aperture or gate area of a motion picture camera is a very confined and cramped region and therefore there is little space available for the installation of any hardware. Accordingly, practical design and installation problems are inherent in this approach. Additionally, the film will be moving intermittently at the gate and therefore, the code will be written in a non-linear fashion. As an alternate solution to the problem, should the writing mechanism be installed at a position remote from the gate at a location where the film is moving in a linear fashion, then there is the difficulty of assuring that the code will be written in such a manner as to unambiguously identify the exact frame to which that code relates.
Further, in addition to the problems attendant with the code being written in the camera itself, it will be appreciated that an identical code must be recorded on the sound track in the 1/4 inch tape recorder that is typically used in the film production. Once the time code had been provided, then the film could be transferred to a videotape positive by reverse-phasing the developed negative for editing and then back to film in the final version. Without such a time code, then there would be no way to conform the edited version back to film. At the present time, an acceptable method of applying a time code to film has not been popularly adopted.
Most recently, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N.Y., has announced the availability of a new motion picture film that has specially been developed to incorporate magnetic control surface technology. Eastman Kodak Company has announced that a transparent magnetic layer has now been developed which is applied on the side of the film opposite the photographic emulsion. Further, the transparent magnetic layer system has been utilized both with 16 mm film and with 35 mm film. The magnetic layer covering the complete back surface of the film may now be magnetically encoded, in conveniently selected track areas, with digital information such as the SMPTE time code, thereby opening an entirely new vista in the post production techniques available for film editing.